Mid-South Delta Project

The United Way of America contracted with the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center to provide evaluation and consultation assistance in the Mid-South Delta Initiative Project (MSDI). The Project is providing resources within the Mid-South Delta region to work cooperatively to serve citizens through 2-1-1, the Federal Communications Commission-designated three-digit dialing code for community health and human services. MSDI is designed to lay the groundwork for comprehensive 2-1-1 services in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta regions,enhancing the currently operational 2-1-1 service in Louisiana. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have highlighted the need for scalable statewide 2-1-1s in the Gulf Coast region.

Goals
The goals of the Project were to

• Optimize usage and awareness of existing assets through a technology-enabled aggregation of all regional resources
• Enhance the civic infrastructure of the MSDI initiative by incorporating the 2-1-1 model, which stresses multi-sector partnership, giving and getting assistance, and quality assurance
• Complement and enhance MSDI web-based resources, which emphasize economic development services, through the comprehensive, holistic 2-1-1 model

The Public Policy Center documented the impact of the 2-1-1 development through three, state-focused case studies--2-1-1 in the Mid South Delta: A collective case study.

Project Period
This project was funded through July 2007. Funding comes, in part, from a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.